Snowy White Lies of Orange
by MegaTJ
Summary: Scootaloo. The Pegasus with nothing to fear. Except for one thing. As winter descends on Ponyville, her deepest and darkest secret begins to surface. Will somepony find out? And if they do, what will keep the one closest to her by her side?
1. One Chilly Evening

One Chilly Evening

Ponyville exploded with thunderous cheers and hoofsteps as the town's students rushed out of the schoolhouse. The silence of the afternoon admitted defeat early as it was a very special day. The first official day of winter. Cloudsdale had confirmed it weeks before and now it arrived with fresh snow to sate the appetites of many of the town's winter sports enthusiasts, from the bobsledders to the snowball fight tacticians. The released ponies from school immediately tossed aside the assigned homework for the night to play in the fallen powder.

Among them were perhaps Equestria's most well-known Cutie Mark Crusaders: Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, the newest members Apple Sprout, Juneberry, and the only colt of the group, Cotton Threads. They stood on the threshold of the school's door, somewhat cramped, but ignorant of that fact to stare in awe at the snow.

"Just look at it", Sweetie Belle breathed, "There's so many new things we can try out to get our Cutie Marks now that winter's here!"

"What should we do first?" Scootaloo asked, "Snowboard, ice hockey, dogsledding…Ooh! What about mountain climbing? Now that there's seven of us that'll be way easier!"

The thought of doing something dangerous right off didn't exactly sit right with the other crusaders. Applejack's sister was the first to let them know that. "Ah think we should do somethin' smaller first", Applebloom suggested, "Or at least wait until Sprinkle gets here."

"Like snowmare building!" Cotton shouted.

The oldest member scrunched up her face. "Maybe a bit bigger than that." Apple Sprout looked down at her friend in hopes his imaginative mind would change.

Her sister coughed. "Ah don' like the cold", she whined, "Can't we jus' do somethin' inside where it's warm?"

Scootaloo looked back at the youngest member. "And miss all the awesome action in the snow? Not a chance!"

As usual the group found itself under the influence of conflict and indecisiveness. They stood there, voicing their opinions, arguing against even the simplest and least dangerous ideas that came up. It got to the point where Cheerilee had to boot them from the premises as she couldn't hear herself think over the rising volume of the six ponies. And so their bickering took to the road to the clubhouse. Luckily, about halfway, Scootaloo managed to push her wild suggestions onto the others. It started with Cotton, who became very interested in snowboarding.

"…and we'll have so much fun that we'll have to get our Cutie Marks!" he exclaimed to back up Scootaloo's unorganized points.

"Okay", said Applebloom with a defeated sigh, "We'll go snowboardin'."

"But it'll have to wait until tomorrow", Sweetie Belle pointed out, "It's starting to get dark and I don't think ponies have night vision."

"Oh, fine", Scootaloo huffed, "But until then it's boredom city! What're we gonna do?!"

Cotton jumped in front of her. "Oh! I know, Scootaloo!" From his saddlebag he pulled out the latest copy of "Adventures of Mare-Do-Well". The cover featured the masked mare staring down the skeleton of a unicorn. "It's the last issue of the year!"

The Pegasus's eyes shot open and she snatched the book from him to make sure that it was real. "How'd you get this!?"

"Big Brother", stated the unicorn happily, "He knows the pony that writes them!"

"No. Way. He knows Reward Timer!"

"Uh-huh, but Big Brother says that's an ananagran!"

"I think you mean 'anagram'", corrected Sweetie Belle. "Rarity reads a lot of books by ponies who don't use their real name."

"I don't care what they're called", Scootaloo said honestly, "I can't wait to see who the Skeletal Being really is!"

"Maybe we should do our homework first", Sweetie Belle said.

"Uh, lame!" Scootaloo gave Cotton back the paper gold. "I hate fractions!"

Sweetie Belle tried to reason with her orange friend, but was silenced by a shake of Apple Sprout's head. You just couldn't argue school with Scootaloo. On the other side of the brightness spectrum, at least she and Cotton would be quiet long enough to let the rest of them move on to the next grade. It was no secret, at least not to the Crusaders that those two had grown very close since Cotton's first day in Ponyville. Every spare moment in each other's time was spent together. Thankfully, it didn't too much interfere with their quest for Cutie Marks.

The group pulled ahead to let them discuss what they thought was going to happen in the latest issue of the comic as the colt hadn't read it yet. They arrived at the CMC's main headquarters sometime later, much to the relief of the non-comic fans. Their ears were plenty sore from the abuse of Scootaloo's high pitched squeals of delight at every theory Cotton came up with. The inside was about as warm as a snowflake, preventing anypony from shedding even a single piece of winter clothing. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and the sisters unloaded the homework assignments and got to work like they did almost every day after the seven hour wait to leave a place that only took five minutes to get to.

The other two situated themselves on top of beanbags against the opposite wall to separate themselves from any talk of math's problems. The inside soon fell into two different kinds of murmuring as the different pages of the books flipped. Tuesdays normally found a way to be highly uneventful, leading to the scene of the six ponies in their respective corners. Every once in a while Scootaloo would loudly comment on a panel of Cotton's comic and hurry the colt along to finish the page so she could see what was to happen next. Applebloom and the others were condemned to fraction chatter among themselves, saying aloud an answer to a problem they managed to solve.

The sun outside sank below the western mountain range much earlier than it ever did any other time in the year. Luckily, Ponyville's assistant librarian provided the clubhouse with enchanted lanterns that never needed oil and only required only the push of a flint switch to ignite so they had plenty of light to see. Whether that was an aid or not depended on who you talked to in the room. Eventually, Apple Sprout sighed with a slam of her book.

Officially burned out, she told her friends, "That's it, Ah'm done."

Juneberry stood up with her. "Me too."

"We're almost done anyway", Sweetie Belle said, "Can everypony figure out the rest?"

A round of nods went around the room, except for the comic readers. The fillies gathered their things and, with stretches and yawns, started to leave. Just before leaving, Applebloom poked her head back in.

"Are y'all stayin' here again?" she asked Cotton and the filly pushed deep into his side.

The unicorn nodded vigorously. "Yup! We're so close to the end we just can't stop now!"

"Alright, then, jus' make sure y'all put the lanterns out", she said, closing the door behind her.

The voices soon faded as their friends disappeared into the trees of the frozen Sweet Apple Acres. Neither of them took notice. Their senses were so dulled that the only things that mattered in their world right now was figuring out why Mare-Do-Well's oldest friend had become her greatest enemy and each other. Even though they were huddled right under a lantern, the air's chill still ran deep. That much was evident in Scootaloo's violent shivering. The blue colt at her side immediately reacted. He snatched the scarf from around his neck, wrapped it around hers, and removed the winter cap from his head to help reinforce the black one she wore.

"Th-thanks, Captain", she stammered, using the nickname nopony else ever called him by.

He smiled proudly, "Captain Strings saves another! Hypothermia is no match for me!"

"Come on, let's read the rest already!" She pulled him back down to him. Nuzzling slightly into him for added warmth, she leveled the book in between them.

Panel by panel, they gradually dipped down into the farthest reaches of suspense. Every new page unraveled another secret about their favorite superhero until they landed on the final page. Mare-Do-Well stood tall against an army of skeletal ponies and the words "A spirit broken! Can she find it in herself to fight?" shot across the bottom. They collectively stared at the finale page until realization settled the fact that there was nothing else to read, not even a preview.

"That was awesome!" Scootaloo screamed. "Those skeletons don't stand a chance!"

"I bet she'll use her Vortex Cannon move and send them all to another dimension!" Cotton closed the book and slid it into his saddle bag. Standing up, he stretched his cramped muscles and made sure the blue cape he never took off didn't suffer any damage from lying on it. He pulled Scootaloo to her hooves. "Ready to go?"

She readily nodded. "Is it still okay that I stay the rest of the week?" she asked almost apologetically.

"Uh huh! Big Brother already has your room ready!"

It was nice to have somepony like Cotton in her life. The second she told him that her parents had to go out of town to handle a business deal for their job, he told his older brother. The generous stallion decided to allow Scootaloo to stay with them until they got back. Cotton was so overjoyed that he even cleaned his attic room from top to bottom. Knowing that she was still welcome, she helped him douse the lamps so they could get going.

Outside was difficult to see in the late hours of the winter afternoon. Cotton shivered against the cold, not having anything to protect him against the low temperature's onslaught. Just as Scootaloo opened her mouth to offer him back his hat and scarf he cut her off by yelling out into the orchard.

"No mere cold can stop Captain Threads! Do your worst, winter!"

The filly feared his superhero façade was going to get him into trouble one day. She kept a watch on him to make sure he would hold up against the weather. In his mind he might be a superhero, but on the outside he was an ordinary unicorn, susceptible to the ailments of all other mortals. While it was cute, Scootaloo made it her personal mission to make sure he remained safe when not under the watchful eye of his brother.

Snowflakes fell softly around them, offsetting the would-be creepy darkness with a serene atmosphere. The two trudged on through the deepening blanket of snow. The winding trail marked by Applejack just for the Crusaders to use led them back to Ponyville which was no warmer than the orchard. Nonetheless, the thought of almost being home kept their spirits high. Cotton turned his gait into excited bouncing, and Scootaloo nearly tripped trying to keep up. The smaller, bluer version of Pinkie Pie giggled louder with ever foot closer to the house next door to Ponyville's spa. At the distance between them, neither could distinguish Cotton's house from any of the other buildings. That changed when they passed the library; Linen's house wasn't far from there, giving it higher contrast against its neighbors.

The light glowed from the first floor's windows. A silhouette could be seen pacing behind them. No doubt it was Linen Fiber, worrying himself sick over the children he didn't know were frolicking just outside his property line. Scootaloo let Cotton go in first. She didn't feel comfortable accepting such a big favor and looking the hospitable ponies in the eye at the same time. It was horrible to feel like a burden on the colt she had grown sweet on in the last three and a half months. The inviting warmth was a magnet, pulling her halfway into the living room despite her reluctance to do so.

"Big Brother!" Cotton called, "We're home!"

"And have you the slightest idea the time?!" returned a voice from the next room over. Linen rushed into the room, his scarf slung around his neck and three boots on his hooves. "I was beginning to search for you!"

"Sorry, Big Brother." Cotton frowned with genuine sadness. He didn't at all like to upset his older sibling.

Linen sighed. "I am just relieved that you are both of sound health."

Scootaloo watched the brothers embrace from the door. She might have been in the house well over a hundred times before, yet she felt like an intruder. In the back of her mind she hoped that she would remain invisible to the ponies for the next four days. Unfortunately, their keen eyes were more than enough to see her in the doorway.

Linen grinned warmly. "Scootaloo, why don't you come in and stay for a few minutes at the least", he chuckled.

She hesitantly stepped inside. Her body shook violently under the onslaught of the scarring cold and nervousness. "Th-thanks for letting me stay", she squeaked out as confidently as she could.

The gray unicorn picked up on her shakiness. Deciding to offer her a chance to relax, he said, "Ah, is this your first time sleeping in a different home?"

She shook her head.

"Then perhaps", he chuckled slyly, "This is your first time sleeping at a colt's house?"

The blood from her blush warmed her face, and to avoid any more questions, she thought it best to go ahead and nod. "Uh, yeah…"

"It will be no different from any other slumber party you may have attended before…with the exception of the four day period of temporary residence. Rest assured I have and will continue to take measures to make you feel right at home. Now, then. Would anypony care for dinner?"

Linen said the magic word. In under a second, Cotton left his saddlebag suspended in the air. It fell to the floor at about the same time the sound of a chair scooting up to the kitchen table echoed from the room. Scootaloo giggled while Linen simply rolled his eyes. They made their way to Cotton's food-worshipping room, where he twitched in excitement at the table. The smell of hay fries and field picked squash drifted through the air. The filly took her usual seat next to Cotton and realized exactly how hungry she was.

No more than a few seconds went by before two plates softly landed in front of the younger ponies. "_Bon apatite_"_, _Linen said in Ancient Equine, "I hope you enjoy Scootaloo. It is my favorite garden medley with a Ponyville touch added in just for you."

She figured he was talking about the hay fries situated under the mix of steamed vegetables. It smelled sweet, but at the same time, tangy. It didn't matter much, her stomach overtook any resentment her taste buds might have had. The first bite danced on her tongue unlike anything the older unicorn had ever made for her, and she had eaten enough of Linen's cooking to know what luxury meals were like. This was just so much better. She tore into the food, nearly inhaling it in between the huge bites.

"Um…Scootaloo?" Cotton tapped her shoulder.

At that moment she saw exactly how much faster she was eating than him. Cotton, the fastest eater and hungriest pony she had ever met only had about three bites to her almost clean plate. She stopped immediately, somewhat ashamed with full embarrassment. She received stares from the boys, further topping off her blush with even more redness.

"My, Scootaloo have you not eaten today?" Linen inquired in shock.

She nodded honestly. "No…my mom and dad were gone before I woke up this morning, so I didn't have breakfast or lunch for school…"

"Goodness…well you can be certain that you will be well fed tomorrow", he told her softly.

"…thanks…"

Cotton barely heard her mumble and he wasn't even four feet away. He looked down and furrowed his brow in thought. Scoots was pretty ashamed of what she did, though he knew what it was like to starve, even if his definition of the word featured going only an hour without sustenance. It didn't take long for him to find a solution to her issue.

"Big Brother, can I be excused?"

"Yes, Cotton", said the older unicorn.

Seeing his absence as a chance, Scootaloo pushed away from the table. "I'm kinda tired Linen…I'm going to bed."

Linen levitated her plate to the sink, where his levitation field spread over the sink to wash them. "I could start you a bath."

It was a good idea, however she wasn't in the mood. "No thanks…"

"The guest room is on the second floor, first on the left."

She nodded, then left for the upstairs. Avoiding Cotton, who was rummaging through his saddlebag, she climbed the staircase. The door Linen directed her to was cracked a little, allowing her to push through and have her breath inflate her lungs with an endless gasp.

Linen had gone the extra hundred miles to make sure that she would feel at home. Posters containing Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts, Mare-Do-Well, and various other ponies that peaked her interests clung to the walls. Speaking of the walls, he painted them her favorite shade of green, and colored the bedspread and furniture the same orange as her coat.

"You may thank Cotton for the design", said Linen behind her.

She jumped almost over the taller pony's head.

He chuckled. "My apologies. I hadn't meant to startle you."

"It's cool", she replied. She crossed the room and climbed into the bed.

"Have you any last needs?" Linen asked from the door. He placed his hoof on the knob to show that he was ready to say goodnight.

She shook her head. "No. Goodnight, Linen."

"Goodnight to you as well, Scootaloo." He closed the door. Now she was alone with nothing to do but listen to the sounds of the house, which mainly included the sound of hoofsteps descending the stairs. The Pegasus stared up at the ceiling. It was kind of early for her to go to bed, and it was a new place to sleep, becoming the perfect mixture for insomnia.

Not much longer after the first few sheep did she hear the door creak open. She shot up to look, but whoever opened it had already plunged the room into darkness again. Before thoughts of the boogeymare could cross her mind, she was set at ease by a voice in the dark. "Scootaloo?"

She let out her breath. "I'm here, Cotton."

The opposite end of the bed sank under his weight when he climbed it. He clumsily crawled along the top to her. "I got something for you", he said simply.

"What is it? I can't see."

"Oh, hang on." The top of the source of his voice sparked in his attempt at a spell. With a little effort, the juvenile magic user had formed a small ball of light at the tip of his horn. He beamed widely at his success, then held up a pink flower. "Here. It's the last one before the snow."

The filly blushed hard. Cotton always did something sweet for her. And, even though it sometimes might have been something that she would never admit to liking, she always welcomed what he did. She removed the flower from his hooves and gently placed it on the end table. "Thanks."

He hopped up in satisfaction. His loss of concentration bathed the room in darkness again. "Goodnight Scootaloo. I'll see you in the morning, my trusty sidekick!"

She remained silent. Secretly, she didn't want the unicorn to leave, but was too shy to say anything. As a result, her door clicked shut for a final time that night. Lying back once more, she sighed happily. The next four days were going to be way better than she first thought.

**Skipping my usual after-update comment, I'd like to apologize for the delays. I've just started college and the workload is pretty heavy, so I'm usually up after hours and writing in the small gaps of time fate has allowed. Another thing is I didn't have cover pages ready for these new stories so I've had to make them as I publish more.**

**On the brighter side, this is the sixth and final story of the new…shall we call it season? Yes, season. So now we are officially on Season 2.**

**Since my schooling is upsetting the once peaceful balance of my writing universe, I will be posting more news updates on my Twitter account, so if you are wondering just how close I am to a new update, you can just pop on the feed and quickly see where I am.**

**Trivia:**

**Cotton is the second youngest of his family, coming before his sister Pin Cushion, and after his brother Textile. His other siblings in the order of youngest to oldest are Linen, their brother Twill Weave, sister Yarn Spinner, sister Satin, and brother Selvage. We will be seeing these ponies later into Season 3.**

**I recently learned that juneberry is a tree and is grammatically correct as one word so now I have to go back and rewrite the filly's name as one word.**


	2. Snow Shredding Disaster

Snow Shredding Disaster

The next morning came without a fuss. Warmth radiating from the covers of Scootaloo's bed kept her eyes shut through the process of waking up. She slept so well the night before that she never wanted to get up and was unfortunately denied her desire the second Linen's voice called up to her room.

"Scootaloo! It's time to start the day! School starts in one hour!"

"One hour!?" she groaned. Having no intentions of getting out of bed to face the sixty minutes before school, she rolled back over and pulled the blanket over her tight. She slowly began to drift back into the first stages of sleep. Just as she began to feel the sweet embrace of lost consciousness, somepony lifted her straight up from the mattress.

Linen turned her over in his levitation field. "Scootaloo. You mustn't malinger. The kitchen only remains open for the duration of breakfast. I would hate to have send you off to school with an empty stomach." He set her on the floor before continuing. "I've made your favorite blueberry pancakes."

From where he stood, Scootaloo looked somewhere in the ballpark of a fifth as excited as he had expected. To counter her lack of enthusiasm, the unicorn chuckled, "If you don't hurry, you may miss your chance to eat at all. Cotton is surely eyeing your tower of pancakes from his empty plate.

That did the trick, for she even barely heard what he said before her little wings were almost getting her airborne in her rush to the kitchen. Linen watched her clear every step on the way down and turn the corner to the adjacent room so fast that he could have sworn he saw her drift on her hooves. Inside the kitchen sat Cotton amidst large piles of pancakes. The sight told her that the brother of the munching colt might have stretched the truth a little to coax her out of bed. At any rate, she was now in the kitchen where her small tower of pancakes rose to a fraction of Cotton's shortening stacks.

"Good morning, Scooty!" he greeted loudly.

She shook herself free of the shockwave side effect of the loud reception. Even though she ate the way she did the night before, Scootaloo still found herself in the depths of hunger. Absolutely not being a morning pony, the filly pulled herself into the chair across from Cotton. She topped the four flapjacks with the maple syrup the blue unicorn hadn't somehow drained. The taste of her favorite Linen-made breakfast did little to ward off the dragging drowsiness. She continued to eat regardless; should Linen's efforts for warm pancakes go cold with the lack of attention guilt would eat her alive.

Speaking of the older stallion, he trotted in merrily humming a tune to himself. "Good, morning, Cotton and Scootaloo. I do hope you are both finally awake. Our six thirty jog is only ten minutes away."

The expression of "are you serious" crossed the face of his Pegasus guest in a way that suggested he might as well have walked in without his head. He laughed. "Please don't look so alarmed, Scootaloo. I was not being serious."

She sighed, letting the tension pulling her face relax back into its normal tautness. She returned to eating.

Seeing as how the kitchen was rather dull without conversation, Linen decided to strike one up. "The two of you slept well last night, I imagine?"

"Uh-huh!" Cotton piped up first, "I dreamed I was battling Scandineighvian pirates for barrels of stolen gold off the cost of Esponia!"

"Exciting", Linen complimented. He turned to the second young one. "Scootaloo, did you have any adventurous dreams last night?"

She shook her head. "Just boring sleep", she half-heartedly replied.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm no psychologist, but I do know when the best friend of my closest family member is not emotionally sound. Would you like to convey what is upsetting you?"

"I'm just tired."

Linen fell for her lie. "Ah, yes. According to Cotton, you are not so much an early bird as we are. I'm terribly sorry for that, but you'll see that the custom has a purpose."

Maybe Scootaloo's usual attitude was still asleep or maybe she really wanted to remain polite because she did not say the sarcastic remark she would have for any other pony at any other time. She instead finished off her last pancake. And so ended the more exciting part of the morning before she was to be off for school. She spent the rest of the time waking herself up in every way she could, from splashing her face with ice-cold water to trying a small taste of the horrible beverage most older ponies drank in the morning known to them as coffee. By the time she could fully comprehend everything going on around her, she was trudging through the deep snow outside with Cotton.

"Hey, Scootaloo! Cotton!" called Applebloom from her usual waiting spot. "We're over here!"

"What's up girls?" the Pegasus asked upon making it to the shivering fillies.

Apple Sprout sniffed. "Ah don' even know why we're—AACHHOO!—out here. There's too much snow fer school!"

"We know", groaned Sweetie Belle, "You said it a hundred times already."

"Ain't like it's not true."

"Hey, where's Juneberry!" Cotton exclaimed suddenly at the absence of their sixth Ponyville member. "Did snow monsters get her!?"

"Keep yer horn on, Cotton, she's—AACHHOO!—got the pony pox."

"Lucky her", said Scootaloo.

"I really don't want to go to school today either." Sweetie Belle started off in spite of her statement. "But we gotta do it. Maybe we'll learn something that can get us our Cutie Marks."

Her optimism wasn't shared by her friends. It was mainly just the fact that they all had trouble sleeping last night with the change of time. Unluckily, they did have just enough energy to get their hooves to move through the white powder dropped by Cloudsdale over the days before. The group didn't get much farther before somepony called to them from above.

"Yoohoo! Girls, Cotton!"

Seven gazes turned to the sky and settled on three descending Pegasi. The filly of the three landed roughly, somewhat burying herself under the snow. "Thanks, guys!" she called up to her escorts.

The lighter blue of the two nodded. "We'll return this afternoon to retrieve you, Breezy." With that, and a shy wave to Sweetie Belle from the darker Pegasus, they soared off.

Applebloom lifted a brow at their out-of-town-friend. "What are ya doin' here, Sprinkle?"

"Yeah. Don't you have to go to filly jail like everypony else?"

The light-rose Pegasus frowned. "Huh? What are you talking about, Scootaloo?"

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "School."

"Oh, well, there's no school in Canyon Run right now. Too much snow."

"Lucky", Scootaloo commented, "We still have to go."

"I actually came to go to school with you today!" Sprinkle announced so suddenly Apple Sprout forgot to sneeze.

"Yer sayin' ya gotta whole day off an' ya wanna go to school?" Applebloom asked skeptically.

"Are you brainwashed!?" Scootaloo exclaimed, "If I had a day out of school you better believe I'm not going anywhere near another one."

"I could've figured that out", Sprinkle remarked sarcastically. "I just want to know how different it is."

"Girls, we're going to be late if we don't get going. I'll be grounded for sure if Ms. Cheerilee tells my parents we got another tardy!" Sweetie declared loudly.

Cotton, who had somehow remained quiet, shot into the air with an excited bounce. "Alright! Everypony line up and follow Captain Threads! Time is no match for my might!"

Scootaloo jumped behind him first followed by the others, none of whom had any intentions to make a line straighter than a tree with balancing issues. Sprinkle made conversation regarding how she was doing in the area of getting her Cutie Mark. Scootaloo was too focused on Cotton's lead to give much input, but caught the gist of what sounded like several failures. Through the snow covered buildings, the Crusaders soon came upon Ponyville's schoolhouse. Something didn't seem right about how dark the inside was or about how there was no other filly nor colt reluctantly trekking through the snow to the red educational prison.

"Where is everypony?" Sweetie Belle. She gazed around the eerily silent courtyard and didn't see a single soul.

For the more paranoid ponies of Scootaloo, Apple Sprout, and Sprinkle, a chill slithered down their spines. Cotton, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle, however, walked onwards. When Cotton attempted to push the door open, he got full resistance from the large piece of wood. He backed up challengingly.

"You dare deny Captain Strings entrance, door!?" he exclaimed in outrage. "Sweetie Belle, stand back, for I must teach this fiend a lesson!"

The unicorn stepped to the side with a healthy roll of her eyes. No sooner had she moved did his blue blur fly past. His head almost made contact, but just as he was about to suffer a skull fracture, Cheerilee opened the door. The sudden loss of his momentum sent his head over his hooves and he came to a rolling stop right after earning a strike with a few of the desks.

Scootaloo was up the stairs faster than the colt could let everypony know he was indestructible and thus unable to be hurt. Letting her filly Pegasus through, the teacher looked over the rest of the girls with confusion. "What are you all doing here? Didn't you hear? School is cancelled today."

"It is!?" Sprinkle shouted. She fell over backwards with disappointment.

"I'm afraid so", sighed the magenta mare, "And since you are here I suppose Rainbow Dash only told half of Ponyville."

"What are you doin' here, then, Ms. Cheerilee?" asked Applebloom.

"I'm grading the class's last spelling test—oh!—that reminds me..." She poked her head back through the door frame. "…There's no 'three' in 'ensure', Scootaloo."

"It was an honest mistake!" whined the filly. "I was half asleep!"

Cotton got to his hooves. "A moment of weakness that Orange Lightning will not succumb to again!"

"Well, anyway girls, there is no school today. Sorry for you to have to come out here in the cold. Enjoy your days off!" After letting the accidental guest and his savior out, Cheerilee waved goodbye and closed the door.

"Now what?" Sprinkle asked from her snow-divot.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom cringed at the grins Scootaloo and Cotton grew. "Uh, oh", they said in conjunction with Apple Sprout, who only half-knew what they were thinking.

"What?" asked the Pegasus, catching on to the rising bad idea.

"Cutie Mark Snowboarders! Yay!" Scootaloo and Cotton cheered.

"What about Juneberry, y'all?" asked the mentioned filly's sister, "What if we get our Cutie Marks while—ACHOO!—she's home with the pony pox?"

"If we get our Cutie Marks fer snowboardin' we can jus' try extra hard to help her", replied Applebloom.

That seemed to satisfy their oldest member. Either that or her allergies evolved to the point of muting her out completely. Whatever the reason, she and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders set off for Ponyville's seasonal ski lodge at the top of Pointy Peak. As Celestia's sun continued to grace the sky as it rose higher over the horizon, the Crusaders soon began to feel the excitement of their next misadventure crawl up to their hearts.

"I wonder what a snowboarding Cutie Mark will look like on me", mused Sweetie Belle to the others.

"Awesome, duh", commented Scootaloo.

"Ah don' care what it looks like", stated Applebloom honestly, "Ah jus' can't wait t'get it!"

"Yeah!" Cotton agreed loudly. "Hopefully there will be some villain to fight that way I can get one for battling evil on a snowboard!"

"Won't that mean you'll get two?" Sprinkle asked, "I mean, if you're fighting evil and riding a snowboard…"

"Trust me, y'all don' want more than one Cutie Mark", shivered Applebloom at the memories of her case of the Cutie Pox. "It ain't pretty."

Sweetie Belle changed the subject for her friend. "I wonder how far up Pointy Peak…" her voice trailed off when she saw exactly how steep the south face of the mountain was and how far it rose into the sky. "How are we gonna get up there!?"

Cotton placed his hoof on the perfectly vertical rock wall. "I wonder if Big Brother knows any suction cup spells…"

"I can fly us up there!" Sprinkle announced. She kicked her wings into hyper drive and hooked her hooves under Applebloom's forelegs from behind. The Pegasus gave it everything she had and then some, and got an amazing four inches off the ground!

"Ah don' think yer gonna be able to, Breezy", Apple Sprout told her.

"It was a good idea though", Sweetie Belle added for her comfort.

"Horseshoes…" she put her Earth Pony cargo back on the ground.

"Looks like we're walkin' around", Applebloom sighed.

The group groaned in dismay. Now not only did they have to climb up the mountain, they had to circle the base of said mountain first. The only two that moved were the ones that were most excited about getting a snowboard on their flanks.

"It's going to take hours", said Sweetie Belle as she began to follow Cotton and Scootaloo.

"Hey!" somepony called from above.

They all turned their heads to the sky, where two more, this time older, Pegasi descended with the falling snowflakes. Rainbow Dash and Rain Cloud, the oldest brother of Sprinkle, landed in the center of the group. They each wore a scarf and beanie to protect themselves from the chills of the day and still then shivered against the cold.

"Sounds like you guys need a boost", assumed the blue mare.

"Yeah!" Cotton exclaimed, "Not one of us are Spider-Mare or can fly! We need your Pegasus Powers to assist in our quest!"

"I don't know about powers", the stallion of the two told them, "But we fly."

Scootaloo shuffled up to her biggest idol, "Can you take us up to the snowboarding trails, Rainbow Dash? Please?"

The filly's mile-wide smile was much more than enough to sway Rainbow's decision. She gave a glance to her fellow flier. It turns out he already knew what she was thinking and was already loading up the fillies onto his back. Apple Sprout held onto his neck while Applebloom held onto her. Sweetie Belle, having no place on his back, was taken into his forehooves. Cotton and Scootaloo climbed onto Rainbow Dash, and Sprinkle decided she was going to fly herself, getting a head start while her friends piled onto the older ponies.

"Ain't y'all gonna go?" Applebloom asked.

"Just a sec", answered Cloud, "If Sprinkle wants a race, she's gonna get one."

"Nopony said anything about a race", Sweetie commented.

"When a member of the Thunder Clan takes off like that", he explained, "It's a race."

"She's almost at the top!" Cotton exclaimed, "The possibility of catch—"

The colt was cut short on his statement by a moment of whiplash from the zero to vertical sonic speeds put on him by sudden takeoff. Sprinkle's tiny form up the mountain nearly instantly grew to full size. They passed Sprinkle so fast that even her reflexes didn't pick up on them until she landed on the summit. By the time her hooves sank into the snow her friends had already climbed back off their rides. An embarrassed blush rose to the surface of her cheeks upon realizing what had happened.

"Ya know the rules, Breezy", Cloud laughed.

"And I paid for it…" she mumbled.

When everypony's hearts settled down in their cages of rib the calm of the morning returned. Though they had finished helping the younger ponies, Rainbow Dash and Cloud stuck around, and the moment the others finally recovered from the heart stopping loss of motion.

"So what're you guys doing up here? I mean, how're you getting your Cutie Marks today?"

"We're going to shred some snow!" Scootaloo announced first.

"CUTIE MA—"

"NO!" Cloud and Rainbow shrieked.

The echoes faded in the distance, and luckily there were no low rumbles following them. The Pegasi sighed in relief.

"Gotta be quiet", the frightened Crusaders were told by Rainbow Dash.

"One word: avalanche", Cloud explained simply.

"Well, thanks fer the ride", Apple Sprout said, disappointed that they were stopped before announcing on which crusade exactly they were embarking. "See y'all later."

Scootaloo quickly stepped forward. "Unless ya wanna show us how to snowboard, Rainbow Dash. Your moves'll get us Cutie Marks for sure!"

Rainbow's experience with all things extreme put everypony in total agreement. She couldn't help but feel proud of the fact she had six ponies literally looking up to her about snowboarding. A smile worked its way up the sides of her face. "I guess I could show ya how it's done. I don't have anything else to do today. Wanna help out, Cloud?"

He shook his head. "I'm a dashball player, not a snowboarder. It doesn't even snow enough in Canyon Run for that."

"He's right", Sprinkle confirmed for attention.

"Looks like I'm teaching you too", Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"I don't think so, Princess", he said quickly, "Being strapped to a piece of wood and going down a mountain without wings...yeah, no."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Wimp."

"I'll be a live wimp", me countered cheekily.

"Whatever", she dismissed. Turning to the girls and Cotton, Rainbow Dash motioned for them to follow her.

With a few cheers that they were finally moving again, all the ponies, including Cloud, were led across the mountain summit to the east side, where the snow deepened.

"I didn' know mountains had so many trees", Apple Sprout said as she trudged along.

"It only makes sense", said Sweetie Belle from the snow trench she was helping dig with the others, "Mountains are like tall pieces of ground."

"But way more awesome", Scootaloo added.

"Right you are, Scootaloo!" Cotton boasted.

The orange Pegasus let out the breath she held for Cotton's statement; if Rainbow Dash heard any of Cotton's nicknames for her she would have at the very least gone into an embarrassment-induced coma.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to keep the subject of the awesomeness of the mountains going, but was cut off by Cloud. "Why are we walking?" he asked nopony in particular, jumping into a lazy back-flutter. With his hooves now behind his head, he let out a satisfied, "Ah…much better."

The others snickered at his silliness while Rainbow continued to guide them through the trees and boulders. The wilderness eventually thinned into the large yard of a snowboarding range. A small rental shack stood right at the edge of a gigantic slope. The mare inside saw Rainbow Dash and smiled.

"Rainbow Dash! About time ya came up here! You're usually the first one every year!"

"I know, Maple", Rainbow replied, "But the weather team needs somepony to put the snow on the ground first."

"So…" said the unicorn with a nod, "Boards for eight?"

"Seven", Cloud clarified, "There are easier, not-so-painful ways to die."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Get him a board anyway", she teased.

Maple disappeared into the shack's warehouse, emerging sometime later levitating out the required number of boards accompanied by safety gear. "There you are. On the house as usual. Which of you little ones have never snowboarded before?" Every filly and Cotton raised their hooves. "Woof…" exhaled said in disbelief, "I had to be the only trainer here today..."

"That's okay, Miss Maple", Sprinkle assured, "We can learn by ourselves!"

"Mmmhmm!" Sweetie confirmed happily.

Maple raised an eyebrow. "Ya know, the last ponies ta say that took a trip to Ponyville General. But I'm sure you all can handle the slopes." She turned around in her shack, turning back to add, "By the way, did you know it costs a small fortune for a replacement hip?" Not one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had normal-sized eyes after hearing that. She smiled. "Okay, then. We'll do a group training session. Everypony, get your gear on, get strapped in and meet me down at the first tier of the blue square slope."

They all obliged and were soon wearing helmets, joint pads, wind goggles, and were tightly hooked into their snowboards. It was too bad Maple mixed up her instructions because getting strapped into their boards first meant that the inexperienced ponies had to figure out a non-neck-breaking way down the small decline to the training area. As one can imagine, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ended up in a large, squirming heap at the bottom.

"Cotton!" yelled Apple Sprout, "Yer horn's in mah side!"

"Actually that's mine", grunted Sweetie Belle, "His is in mine."

"Who's stepping on my wing?!" shouted Scootaloo.

Applebloom lifted her hoof. "Sorry."

"Somepony's on my tail! Get off my tail! My source of power! Life force diminishing!" Cotton screamed at the top of his lungs.

Eventually, the struggling and torture came to stop when Applebloom suggested they all unstrap from their boards. That freed them up, allowing for them to untangle themselves from the mass of hooves and outbursts. They were in the middle of strapping back in when somepony from the top of the slope flew over them. The snow that launched off the top showered over them as the pony performed a backside one-eighty and hit the snow, keeping her board sideways and braking just before leaving the edge of the training area.

"That was awesome!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"So cool!" Sprinkle squealed.

The mare lifted her goggles from her eyes, revealing Maple's smirking face underneath. "Ready ta learn how ta shred some powder, little ones?" They all nodded vigorously with anxious grins. "Perfect! Okay, rule number one on my slope is safety first. If I catch any one o' ya going down without your safety gear, I'll personally feed ya to Freddy!"

Cotton ignored his friends' frightened shivers. Instead, he cocked his head to the side and asked, "Who's Freddy?"

"Freddy's the bear who likes ta hibernate up here a lot. And his favorite food are ponies who don't wear their safety gear!" Maple explained as if she was telling them a campfire horror story. "And that leads to rule number two. Are any of your names 'Fluttershy'?" She got nothing but confused looks and a quick shake of her trainees' heads. "That means none of ya touch the wildlife up here. This time o' year animals don't tend ta like ponies much."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders endured several more minutes of harsh safety lecture before Maple even touched on the subject of how to snowboard. After what may as well have been a blood pact to never mis-adhere to the rules of the mountain, Maple instructed the ponies to pair up. Cotton and Scootaloo nearly became conjoined twins they paired so quickly, while Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Apple Sprout, and Sprinkle took their sweet time deciding who to partner with.

"…and never, I repeat never", Maple warned, "Leave the sight of your partner. Could be the difference between life and death."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Cotton replied loudly, levelling a salute at his forehead.

"Now then…" Maple scooted her way to a small slope. "After keeping your balance the first maneuver is braking. When ya wanna stop…" She let her board follow the pull of gravity down to a steady slide. "When ya wanna stop, just twist your board around like this and sit on the snow." She demonstrated, slinging the back of her board around and planting her tail as deep into the snow as she could. The sudden force stopped her downward movement. "Easy peasy."

She moved away from her training slope let them give it a go a few times. Once they mastered stopping, she gave them lessons on a few defensive moves then went onto turning and accelerating. When the Crusaders showed promising results in their training, Maple gave into their requests to learn how to jump.

"Alright, alright, ya smilin' darlings", she gave in at the sight of six massive, begging grins. Moving once again to the top of her training slope, she got low to her board. "The trick to jumping is launching your weight off the ground. Now, ya won't get much air without a ramp, and since there's no ramps on the novice courses, ya won't be getting much air at all." Her board slid down the six foot slope and at the bottom she demonstrated a jump by flinging her top half straight up, bringing her board along with her. "And by the way, for you Pegasi, I don't wanna see ya using your wings for more height. That's for the bigger ponies, got it?"

Scootaloo and Sprinkle nodded seriously; the last thing they wanted to do was upset Maple. She seemed to be the type of pony to deal out some pretty big punishments for disobedience. Maple sat down in the snow and unhooked herself from her board. "That's it, you are all set. When ya need to get back up the slope, just use the lift at the bottom of the mountain. And stay away from the other slopes if ya know what's good for your health. Blue square trails only for ya little ones."

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am!"

"We will", said Applebloom for the others.

"Have fun!" Maple departed for the top of the mountain, where along the way she passed Rainbow Dash straining herself trying to pull Cloud from a tree.

The stallion, who Rainbow Dash somehow managed to get strapped into a snowboard, held onto the piece of winter flora with all he had. "No! I'm not dying today!"

"Let go already, you big baby!" Rainbow Dash grunted loudly.

Back at the start of the slope, the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked down the mountain slopes in awe. There were several level tiers that other ponies were using as hangout and rest spots, and wherever the mountain slanted downwards, there were ponies kicking up snow with their boards or skis. Sounds of excitement echoed up the blinding-white mountain side, enticing the Crusaders to squirm in anticipation.

"What are we waiting for!?" Scootaloo shouted. "Let's get in on some of that awesomeness too!"

Apple Sprout flung her board over the edge first. "Yeehaw!"

"Woohoo!" Sweetie squealed after, followed not even a second later by four more excited Cutie Mark Crusaders.

The rush of adrenaline was instantly present in the six of them as they raced to the next tier. The snow rushed under their boards so fast that it looked like the rapids of a roaring river. Scootaloo pulled ahead of her friends and decided to show off by weaving back and forth over the width of the track. She weaved in and out of slower snowboarders and a few skiers on her way down to the bottom. Leaning forward like Maple taught them to for more speed, Scootaloo let her free spirit relish in the moment. She took her mind off the trail for just a second to think about her Cutie Mark. If this didn't leave a permanent impression of the best day of her life on her flank, then surely nothing would because seeing the glistening snow light up the air around her and the floaty feeling of her unbound heart was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

However close she was to her Cutie Mark didn't matter, for one last obstacle that stood in her way of achieving it stood firmly in her way. In the moment, in the split second she let her mind wander, a would-be-easily-dodged-rock caught the nose of her board. Her forward momentum vaulted the filly through the air and into the snow. Terribly, the horror didn't stop there. She picked up so much snow in her impact that she created a storybook classic snow boulder, only it wasn't funny now that it was happening to her.

"Scootaloo's in trouble!" Cotton exclaimed.

"Let's get goin' Crusaders!" Applebloom shouted. "Ain't nothing good can happen now!"

That's when the day of fun turned into a rescue mission. She gained some distance from her friends, leaving her new growing mode of transportation almost the size of a marble in their eyes. Despite the odds of them catching her before they made it to the next tier, the Cutie Mark Crusaders put their weight into the front of their boards and raced to the new hazard of the slope.

Farther down, ponies scurried out of the way of the giant ball of snow tearing down the mountain, then again out of the way of the frantic ponies trying to catch it. A few of them joined in on the chase to help, but were ultimately too slow compared to the lighter-weight ponies who started. As the giant ball gained mass, it began to get easier to approach, and soon the Cutie Mark Crusaders were on par with its distance from the next tier.

"Now what!?" yelled Sweetie Belle over the roar of the wind.

"Ah got an idea!" Apple Sprout got low to her board to lessen the air resistance and slowly left the snowball behind on her way to the next area of level mountain. She grinded to a stop upon arrival, popped out of her straps and positioned herself in the destructive path of the ball of snow. The filly concentrated her energy to her back hooves and reared into a bucking stance. She waited for it to get close and when it was in range, drove her hooves straight out into it. Instead of exploding into millions of tiny snowflakes like she had planned, the snowball sucked the filly right into its interior and kept rolling along as if she was never even there to begin with.

Seeing how there were now two of their friends were trapped inside the freezing sphere, the remaining four Cutie Mark Crusaders hastened their speed to make it over the flat plot of snow. They followed it over the lip of the cliff. The trail after that split two ways. To make rescue even tougher on the ponies, it veered to the left trail, marked with a sign bearing double diamonds.

The founding members of the Crusaders pulled back hesitantly, letting Cotton fly past. He ignored their shouts of getting help and warnings of the dangers that could be present. The only thing the unicorn knew was that Scootaloo was facing some serious injury, and that so long as he was breathing nothing was going to happen to her. His incredibly focused reflexes saw everything the new trail threw at him before even the snowball got to them. He used the foresight to prepare a plan to get ahead of it. Disregarding the rules Maple laid in stone earlier, Cotton guided his board through the half-pipe sections of the trail and used a ramp to launch himself through the air, where he saw exactly where his objective was headed.

With nopony to steer it, the snowball was on a collision course for a sharp heap of jagged rocks holding one of the lift's support beams upright. A second surge of adrenaline washed over his senses until his vision was so sharp and clear he could literally his plan from on the physical landscape accompanied by numbers and calculations to assure what he was hoping to achieve was possible. The zone of slow motion returned to normal speed and then sprung into madness as Cotton pulled, jerked, and maneuvered his snowboard through the obstacles to the side of the course. He hopped into a piece of half pipe perpendicular to his path, and once against soared into the air. He twisted around and landed flat into the snow just in front of the rocks. The snowball, on a sure path to turn him and his friends into a pony shish kebab, kept coming his way. Instinct took over the little unicorn's body when he realized that he forgot to figure out a way to stop the large mass of snow and debris.

Magic energy enveloped his horn with a dark blue aura and fired a white beam into the heart of the snowball. It instantly exploded, sending both trapped fillies into the air. Cotton's body sent another spell into the air after them, catching both ponies and gently placing them on to the ground. Scootaloo was the only one who managed to keep her consciousness during the whole episode and stood dizzily up to find Cotton landing in the snow only a few feet away.

She scrambled to get the remains of her snowboard off her hooves and forced her aching body to his. Her heart slammed against her chest for a reason different than knowing her life was in danger. Seeing her savior face-down in the snow, she knew that she was going to be in the biggest trouble of her life. Tears fell from her eyes. The second she heard the sounds of the professional rescue ponies was the second that in her mind processed her life was officially over.

**Suspenseful cliff hanger is suspenseful and evil! Why am I so evil!? Heh, I dunno…just 'cuz.**

**Anyways, I am so very sorry for the horrible month-long delay! Mid-terms snuck up on me and I've been fighting my depression once again. (Hugz pls?) However, Thanksgiving break is upon us and I will have another update up in less than two shakes of a lamb's tale!**

**Also! An important news bulletin! As of a few days ago, I've finally decided to take the hiatus off one of my older stories! If you happen to be a fan of The Rescued Espeon, rejoice in the knowledge that I am continuing the story soon! What does this mean for everypony else? Unfortunately it means that there will be a new story in my update circulation, but it shouldn't effect much as there are only a few chapters left.**

**Trivia:**

**I know the last minute surge of magic energy is sort of cliché, but I couldn't help it since it serves as an important event for later in the story.**

**This is the only other story besides Super Sonic Romance that feature's Sprinkle's whole family.**

**Cloud's fear of snowboarding was inspired by my fear of heights, despite my fascination with flying.**

**Maple is the cousin of Folly and Free Fall (Seen in Super Sonic Romance) and not only runs the slopes of Pointy Peak, but also manages Ponyville's summer waterpark with her brother Syrup.**


End file.
